February 5, 2015

Yesterday Jasper and I had our second rehearsal of our piece Detuning Guitar, after a great concert the previous week. We spend some time on the various sections, made some changes and did one runthrough. Below some excerpts.

January 30, 2015

After one rehearsal for the new piece Detuning Guitar for Jasper and myself, we had an opportunity to play together during a Club100 evening at Zaal100. We were closing a very interesting and eclectic music evening, curated by Akim Moiseenkov, and we were on a roll. Very promising for Detuning Guitar, that should find its premiere somewhere in April, also in Zaal100.

Detuning Guitar is a composition for acoustic guitar and live sampling, performed by Jasper Stadhouders and Robert van Heumen using the Shackle System.

The composition encompasses 13 parts which are descriptions of musical sections that limit the players in concept or material. Within these limitations the players can freely improvise the way they see fit. The parts are presented by the Shackle System as visual cues in a random order and last for a random time between the preset boundaries. When the System announces a new part, there is a 15 second countdown in which the players can prepare for the new part or cancel it using a foot-switch. At any time, each player can request a new part from the System with the same foot-switch. After 25 minutes, the System announces the end.

Some parts prescribe a detuning of one of the guitar strings, and one part prescribes a retuning to the initial tuning. Some parts are accompanied by a brief score. The names of the parts are: PATTERN, STUMBLE, SLOGRO, FASGRO, RIPP, RATTLE, SCRATCH, SLIDE, VIBRA, BOLT, JML, FLAG, FUNERAL.

Below is an excerpt from the first rehearsal where we perform PATTERN and RATTLE.

With their latest project Shackle Bits, Shackle is including silent film excerpts in their performances as yet another ingredient for improvisation. The excerpts are controlled from the Shackle System and switch most of the time in sync with the musical sections but every now and then have a life of their own. As improvisors we are then faced with the question what will take precedence: sound or image.

January 21, 2015

I've been a bad boy in not posting regular updates, especially regarding the composition stipend I received so generously from the Performing Arts Fund NL. Can't really make up, but this is an attempt to clean the slate so I can talk about new projects for 2015.

It was an exciting and busy half year, the fall of 2014:

The premiere of Sonata for 10 pedals in Darmstadt and then in the Gaudeamus Muziekweek (video), which was a fruitful and succesful collaboration with composer Lucas Wiegerink. Lucas came up with the concept and wrote the notes, I developed the live electronics.

Soundtrackcity organized monthly walks of the soundwalk Steenklank. Exciting to see so many people interested in this new medium.

After the premiere of A Short Piece of Decay in July, another performance at festival PARKMUSIK in Bad Münster-Ebernburg.

In September I ran the installation GeluidjesFabriek ZAAG55 near Rotterdam. A great place with great people. The kick-off of the Soundlings Factory. (See post)

The First Law of Kipple was performed by Michael Bonaventure in London, with the sound tech by myself. The Catford church is a wonderful 60's church with great acoustics. The program worked very well as a whole, and we're working hard getting this performed in other spaces. (See post)

December brought to light the premiere of MOROS, my 'science-fiction film in sound for bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet and live electronics'. A hard piece to tame, the premiere was succesful.

January 1, 2015

October 14, 2014

Working hard finalizing MOROS for contra bass clarinet, bass clarinet and electronics. This is a sneak preview of the sound world. Premiere on December 14 at Splendor in an exciting program with 5 other composer/performers.